


The Love Of A Good Woman

by Leni



Series: The Love Of A Good Woman [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Reality, F/M, Implied Cora/Rumpelstiltskin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 07:45:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4296486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Belle is incurably optimistic, and Rumpelstiltskin is... in love?</p><p>(Or perhaps it's really the other way around.)</p><p>Also, The One Where Belle Is Cora's Contemporary. Because it sounded like fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Love Of A Good Woman

**Author's Note:**

> The one thing that changes in this story, is that Belle is the Dark One's maid a few decades earlier.
> 
> That means no Robin Hood, so she'll have to find another way to be glad that Rumpelstiltskin is not what she thought.
> 
> It also means no Regina, so Rumbelle has a chance.
> 
> And of course, it also means Cora is around, so the whole thing is up to anybody's guess.

Belle had felt his strange gaze on her through the whole evening, following as she cleaned the pedestals and swept under the long table. It was unnerving, to be under the Dark One's attention for so long without a break. But it was the most company she'd had in weeks, even if he hadn't said a word yet, so Belle bore with it.

She almost broke when she left for the kitchen, to retrieve his dinner, and felt the same weight between her shoulders all the way to the downstairs and back. And she almost asked him about it when she barely could swallow a spoonful of soup, and again when she couldn't read a whole paragraph of her oft-read book without her concentration wandering to the possible reasons of his sudden interest.

It didn't matter that every time she looked up and glanced in his direction, Rumpelstiltskin was bent over his spinning wheel, leading batches of straw in and pulling gold out; she knew his moods better now, and she knew he was working up to something tonight.

It was as if he needed to observe her from every angle, before he dropped some unexpected announcement on her. Perhaps he thought he could foretell her reactions, if he watched long enough. For all his histrionics, he wasn't a man who was fond of surprises.

(But he _was_ a man, a fact that had reassured her once she'd realized it. Or more man than beast, at least.)

It had been like this when Rumpelstiltskin had announced he had a room ready for her - unless, he'd jeered at her gape, she'd grown too fond of her current accommodations? And it had been like this when he'd pointed out that along the longest hallway in the highest story of the east wing, there was a great oak door, and beside the door there was a painting of a charging minotaur, and behind the painting there was a secret passage, and the secret passage led to a room, and in that room there was a wardrobe, and in that wardrobe there were - well, what else, clothes of course!

"Take whatever you wish," he'd said, looking at her down his nose and wrinkling it at her appearance. As if all her efforts to wash and mend her one dress were piteously inefficient. "Just get out of those rags."

His nasty tone hadn't been enough to quell her enthusiasm, and after a polite curtsey and a muttered thank you, Belle had almost tripped over her own feet in her hurry across the castle.

Those had been the good news.

He had also watched her like this when he announced he'd be gone for a month, or perhaps a little more. And he had practically loomed over her, his eyes fixed on hers, when he had warned her not to poke even her nose outside the great doors in his absence.

"Don't try me in this, dearie," he'd told her, as if she ever challenged him when he gave a direct order, "you don't want to anger me."

Belle had just blinked in disbelief. He was the Dark One. _Of course_ she never wanted to invite his anger!

But in moments like this, when her every instinct screamed that he had something between hands, and she had no idea whether to hope for whatever it was or dread any change to her circumstances, Belle wished she was brave enough to walk up to him and demand an explanation.

Not that it had gone too badly for her, compared to the horrors she'd feared through those first nights in the Dark Castle; but perhaps he just was building her up with those kindnesses so he could yank them out from under her?

He did seem the type to delight in such meanness.

(No. Not really. Belle didn't believe that anymore. But she hated not knowing what was going on!)

Finally, when she had given up on being able to focus on her story - too easy a feat, sadly enough, since she had read this one a dozen times already - and gotten up to head to her room for the night, Rumpelstiltskin cleared his throat sharply. No words, but Belle understood his meaning and sat back, putting the book down carefully on her lap.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked at length, when he still wouldn't say anything.

He sniffed. "Not as such," he claimed, finally raising his head, though the wheel didn't stop. "You could say I'm... curious."

It was her turn to eye him carefully. He wasn't grinning at her, ready to unleash some mischief onto her head, so Belle breathed a little more easily. She wasn't ready to deal with another plague of spiders, not even if they were made of the sugar she'd spilled all over the kitchen floor. 

"Curious?" she prompted.

Rumpelstiltskin gave a long nod, then sprung up to his feet and rounded to the front of the spinning wheel, sending a dismissive wave of his hand in its direction. Obediently, the wheel fell still. "I'm thinking about making an important change around here," he told her, opening his arms grandly to signal the whole of his castle. "It needs more of a feminine hand, this place. It's a bit... dreary."

It was the _Dark_ Castle. It housed the _Dark One_. In Belle's opinion, it didn't even need to have all the curtains blocking out the sun in order to be a dreary place. "Do you-" she started, then shook her head. She was the maid, and he liked to play with words. It was unwise to take what he said at face value. "You don't want my opinion, do you?"

Rumpelstiltskin let out a high-pitched trill of laughter. "No, no. Of course not, dearie. I'm merely..."

"Curious, you said."

He made a moue at her interruption. "Yes, that. Tell me, girl, how do you feel about getting a mistress?" Belle reared back in surprise, and he snickered at her reaction. "I see. Not fond of the idea, are you?"

"What. No!"

She just hadn't considered the idea for a long time. In the beginning, yes, of course. Rumpelstiltskin was rich enough and powerful enough to keep a line of lovers at his doorstep, appearances notwithstanding. But he was either very discreet... or very, very lonely. 

"I can imagine," he continued, deaf to her protest. "I've been very lax with you. Letting you nap around and steal my books when I'm not looking. No doubt Cora will set you straight."

"No. I promise. It's not that at all." 

Belle felt too elated to point out that the castle was kept tidy and his meals were always warm and filling. And those books... well... He might have a point there. Though he _did_ keep leaving them around, and he always groused about her taking frequent breaks to finish a chapter, but he'd never actually forbidden her from doing it. (She hid the tome she'd just been reading behind her anyway, just in case.) But that didn't matter. If he wasn't kidding her now - and she doubted that, with all the deliberation he'd done before giving her the news - then soon there would be someone else in the castle, and another woman at that. 

_Cora_. 

It would be wonderful! 

"I'll be good," she told him, and because she couldn't contain herself, she got to her feet and would have reached out for him if Rumpelstiltskin hadn't practically jumped away. Belle reddened, but when he didn't mention it, she settled for squeezing her hands together and concentrating on not bouncing in place like a five-year-old at the winter solstice fête. Unable to contain her excitement completely, she grinned like a fool. "You're bringing a wife!"

Rumpelstiltskin stared at her. "Well, I certainly am not bringing _two_ ," he snapped, "even I am not that ambitious."

Belle's mind jumped to question what a man would do with two brides, but stopped herself just shy from asking that out loud. It was just another quip, of course.

He liked to unsettle her like that.

Right now Rumpelstiltskin looked annoyed, probably because she had fouled his expectations as to her reaction. But he hadn't retreated back to his spinning wheel, and neither was he sending her away. That must mean he was still in a good enough mood for a couple questions. "Will it happen soon?"

He shrugged. "Soon enough. There are a few details to settle first."

Belle glanced at him suspiciously. "This is not... This is not _a deal_ , right?" She was relieved when he looked affronted. "Good. Because it's not nice to deal for people."

She could have fainted when she heard herself, and barely stopped her hands from clamping against her mouth in horror. It was too late, anyway.

Rumpelstiltskin gave a long blink, then another. "I'm not 'nice', dearie," he reminded her at last.

"Oh, believe me," - since she hadn't been turned into some nasty creature, Belle decided it was safe to add a little tartness to her tone - "I noticed _that_."

He chuckled. "Cheeky thing." He finally waved toward the staircase. "Now run along to your room; you have an early morning tomorrow, and on until everything is ready. Got to make a good first impression, you know." He smiled, and this time it was one of his nasty smiles. "You won't be getting a break until every stone is clean and all the silver is sparkling. Understood?"

Belle repressed a groan. It was a lot of silver. "Yes, sir."

"And ready a suite first thing tomorrow. The one facing south, I think. Look for the wine-red wallpaper; it wasn't quite molding the last time I saw it. Cora will like it."

"The molding?"

"The view, of course." He wriggled his fingers as he always did when he referenced his magic. "I'll take care of the other."

"Right. Suite to the south. In red." She moved to obey his order and go to bed, but a thought occurred to her and she turned around to face him again. "Should I air out a second room as well?"

Rumpelstiltskin stared at her. "Whatever for?"

For all he moved among royalty, he often seemed unaware of those customs that didn't relate to his deals with them. "Your bride will want to bring her own lady's maid along," she explained.

That got her a bark of laughter. "Oh, don't worry about that. Not quite a lady, your new mistress. Just a miller's daughter with dreams of grandeur and a knack for making a wild gamble." A look like fondness crossed his face. "I liked her nerve."

It would take a lot of nerve, to accept a suit from the Dark One. Belle could respect a woman like that.

"How did you meet?" she probed a bit further, taking advantage of his good mood. Rumpelstiltskin was a gifted storyteller, when he felt like it.

"Same old, same old." He shrugged his shoulders, but the glint in his eye kept her listening with all her attention. "A royal ball, a girl with a borrowed dress and a prince in her sights... and a king sending her to the executioner's for it." At Belle's gasp, Rumpelstiltskin tittered. "Yes. She bit off more than she could chew, and needed a helping hand."

And got his hand in marriage instead. A clever woman, then, if she'd avoided paying the price Rumpelstiltskin would have set for his help.

He did like cleverness.

"And you fell in love."

His nose scrunched at that last word. "That's what you get for filling your brains with silly stories." He wagged a finger at her. "The Dark One doesn't 'fall' for anything, dearie, and don't you forget that."

Belle hid a smile. He brightened when he spoke about this Cora. He must be besotted at least. "Of course, sir."

"But it was too perfect a situation. Yes, that was it!" His expression turned malicious, and the grin he directed at her meant to mock her naïveté. "A miller's daughter for wife, and a knight's daughter as the maid. Quite a matched set, don't you think?"

There was no shame in serving Rumpelstiltskin when it had bought the lives of everyone in her town. 

"You're right." Belle straightened. She could be brave, too. "And I'm sure we will like each other for it."

Rumpelstiltskin snorted. "Don't hope too much, my girl. And don't come too close where you're not invited; you might get chewed up for your trouble."

She tilted her chin up. "I'm not afraid of you," she lied.

"Who was talking about me?" He laughed, bringing a hand to his chest in a gesture of innocence.

Belle shook her head, refusing to consider the inference.

Rumpelstiltskin wasn't as evil as he would like her to believe. He was even kind, when he thought she wouldn't notice (as if she could believe that he brought books about adventuring heroes and pictures of far-away places for his own entertainment). Belle instinctively knew that he didn't reach out for more darkness than what already dwelled within him, wouldn't bring a true danger into his home; otherwise something in this castle would have killed her already, after all the times she'd tripped into one of his treasures. 

She definitely wouldn't feel so safe around him, once all was said and done, if he were really a monster.

What Rumpelstiltskin needed was the love of a good woman, for all that he would mock her endlessly if she said that out loud. Someone who cared for him, and who wasn't afraid of his darker moods.

Until she had proof of the contrary, Belle would believe that this woman he'd found - this Cora - would be exactly that.

 

The End  
08/07/15

**Author's Note:**

> I doubt I'll write anything else in this 'verse, so if anyone wants to take this plot-bunny and run away with it, _please do it!_. And link me up.


End file.
